Children are the most precious gift a person could ever hope to receive. Unfortunately parenthood doesn’t come quite as easy to some. Countless couples everyday are frustratingly trying to achieve their dream of becoming parents. Fertility treatments though can often prove successful, can be both costly and emotionally draining. Below are 5 steps to increasing your fertility naturally and safely.
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Quit the smoking and alcohol
It’s a big ask, I know, but alcohol and smoking can lower your chances of conception dramatically, both for men and women. Even light to moderate consumption of alcohol can reduce your chances of conception and increase your risk of miscarriage.
When it comes to smoking, let’s face facts, there is absolutely nothing healthy about smoking. Not only does smoking have adverse effects on ovarian function, but smokers also have a reduced rate of success for IVF than non-smokers. Reason enough to quit?
For all the boys – smoking is also linked with significant reductions in the quality of your semen. That is, smoking negatively effects the concentration of your semen, the ability of your sperm to move around healthily and the actual shape and structure of the sperm themselves.
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Diet is so important for fertility
When you think about it, this really is a ‘no-brainer’, however many of the couples I see in clinic for infertility need a lot of work on their diets.
If your diet is high in refined sugar, packaged foods, deli meats, deep fried food, soft drinks, take away and fast food and low in fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh water, lean proteins and healthy fats, your fertility is definitely going to suffer. Think about it – you are trying to create and grow a human being. What do human beings need in order to thrive and grow? Vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, water, sunlight, protein and all the rest – without them we wouldn’t last long.
It’s important to clean up your diet, both yours and your partners (sorry boys, its 50:50 when it comes to fertility) and not just for a few months, but for life. You’ll be growing a human and after that, you’ll be teaching your baby healthy habits to ensure they live a long, healthy life.
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A happy balance of exercise
Our bodies were made to move, not sit at a computer desk for 8 hours a day. Exercise is a great way to balance our hormones and increase fertility. On the other end of the scale, too much exercise can also lower our fertility – high intensity and frequency physical activity has been shown to lower fertility.
A happy balance is always the best idea, your body needs time to rest and recuperate so schedule in a couple of rest days and keep your workouts to about an hour a day. Both cardio and weight training is fantastic for overall health. A little yoga or Pilates here and there never hurt anyone either!
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Stress is evil
It’s no secret, stress is a jerk. It is one of the leading causes of infertility. I’m sure most couples who have been trying to conceive for a length of time have heard someone tell them that the minute they stop trying and stressing, they’ll fall pregnant. This is actually quite true in a lot of cases.
Stress causes havoc to our endocrine system which in turn affects our hormones. It really is difficult to conceive when our hormones aren’t behaving themselves.
It’s easy for someone to tell you to stop stressing, not quite so easily done I’m afraid. So what can you do?
- Lay flat at least once during the day for 10 minutes or more. This simple act helps our endocrine system signal to the rest of our body that we are calm and relaxed.
- If you’re into it – meditate once a day or take up yoga.
- Herbal teas such as chamomile, skullcap and passionflower are great to calm the nerves. Drink as a strong tea once or twice through the day, ensuring you are sitting down and chilling out while you drink it. Have some me time.
- Speaking of me time. Pour yourself a bath, curl up with a good book and some relaxing music and shut the world out for half an hour.
- For the love of fertility – GET SOME SLEEP!
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Caffeine has got to go!
Sorry guys – I left the best till last, didn’t I? Caffeine has been shown to be one of the biggest causes of infertility – up there with stress!
My normal recommendation to clients who aren’t trying to fall pregnant is one coffee a day before about 1pm. If you are actively trying to conceive I would suggest you quit the coffee and find a healthy alternative. If you need the hit of caffeine to wake yourself up of a morning, there are many things you can do that don’t involve caffeine such as take a high quality B vitamin in the morning, go to sleep at a reasonable hour and begin an exercise regime (yep – exercise increases our energy).
Caffeinated beverages such as soft drinks and energy drinks – if you drink these, quit… immediately. These are an absolute nightmare for overall health and wellbeing let alone fertility.
If you are undergoing fertility treatment, IVF or simply having a bit of trouble conceiving, see your naturopath, nutritionist or herbalist for more information about how they can help you increase your chances!